The Crimson Key (21 page)

Her face twisted and she grew angry. “I don’t want to see her! No
, you can’t say good-bye.” She grabbed my arm and threw me to the ground. For a frail thing she was strong.

“Agnes!” I called. If my plan worked I could distract Evangeline and try to knock her out with something. Preferably something hard.

“Stop it.”

Suddenly,
the door flung open and Agnes stood outside of it. Her pale blonde hair was impeccable and she wore a smile for her sister. I didn’t understand their relationship, but one thing was apparent … Agnes was the one who idolized Evangeline.

“Sister
, you have come for me. I have waited for lifetimes here in this house. Where have you been?” Agnes asked desperately. She wrapped herself around Evangeline. I searched the room for something heavy enough to hit her with. The only thing that would do any damage was the old record player. But how in the hell would I pull that off without being noticed? I fell to the floor and looked under the bed while the sisters embraced.

“Sister
, it looks like I am the pretty one now.” I heard Agnes say. I looked up and saw Evangeline’s face grow a deep red.

“Not for long
, Agnes. I plan on taking Brylee now. Then I will be beautiful again. And alive,” she mocked. “As for you … well, I can’t help you. I am only strong enough to help myself.”
Agnes’ smile faltered. I frantically searched for something in the room. Nothing! Dammit.

“You always think of yourself first!” Agnes shouted. “You could have helped me when Everett killed me. But instead you planned for yourself. All this time you have been living right next door and never have you visited me.” Agnes was putting the puzzle pieces together.

“Agnes, you were the fool who fell into the trap. I merely planned ahead,” Evangeline said.

“No
, you only care about yourself. Look at your children. You discard them like trash. You’re true evil sister.” Evangeline swiped the air at an attempt to slap Agnes. But nothing happened; Agnes only laughed. She clearly was enjoying this.

Just then Evangeline noticed me on the floor. She pulled me up and dropped me back into the circle that was drawn on the ground. I had to fight back. I kicked her hard in the shins and she stumbled backwards. Yes! I stood up and ran toward her with my bare hands. Wrapping them around her skinny throat
, I squeezed. She tried to fight me off. I stumbled back a little as she stomped on my feet, but I didn’t let go of her neck. Her eyes bulged as I cut off her airway. The feeling of killing someone is awful but I had to do it. I had to do it for Ephraim and for Lynley.

“Brylee
,” Ephraim said as he ran into the room. I foolishly looked at him and as I did my hands grew weak. I was killing his mom right in front of him. She took that as an advantage and punched me hard in the face. I fell back and hit my head on the floor. My skull pounded and my eyes filled with tears. She jumped on top of me, holding me still.

“You thought you would kill me that easily?” she asked with a laugh.

Ephraim walked up behind her with a knife in his hands. It was pointed right at her and I prayed silently that he would have the strength to do it … even though I knew he wouldn’t. Who could stab their mother?

“Ephraim
, put the knife down, son,” she told him. “Please.” She didn’t even look at him but she knew what he was doing. You know what they say about mom’s having eyes behind their heads? For this mom it seemed to be true.

“No
, Ephraim, do it!” I yelled. He raised the knife and just as he went to stab her a chair flew out of nowhere and hit him hard. He dropped the weapon and Evangeline laughed.

“Agnes
, my sister. Thank you,” she said as she smiled briefly at her .

“No. Do not thank me. I only did it because I don’t want my nephew to kill you. I don’t want him to know the evils you taught me.” Agnes was actually trying to help. Evangeline threw her anger at me full force. She wrapped her hands around my neck and strangled me with all her might. I struggled for breath. Ephraim jumped on her back and pulled at her. My hands automatically waved around
, searching for something to use to stop her. Ephraim yanked her hair but she wouldn’t budge.

My hand felt something cold and I pulled it up by the edge of my pinky. The world swirled in and out as the breath was leaving my body slowly. I finally grasped the item. The key.

I gripped it and shoved it right into her neck. She let go of me and tried desperately to stop the flow of blood that ran down her neck. Blood spilled everywhere as she pulled out the key. She threw it down and I grabbed it back as she fell onto the floor. She looked around as she noticed all the ghosts that she had once killed now stood in this room with us. I saw them all, too, and they looked angry. She was weaker and they knew it. Suddenly Evangeline didn’t look so tough. Her eyes darted back and forth from victim to victim. Her neck spat blood over the entire top of her blouse. Her hands putting pressure on her gaping wound.

“You
, Evangeline Barclay are not allowed in this house!” Violet said sternly. “Agnes has taught us so much as she lived with us. You really shouldn’t have let her stay here so long.”

“What things?” Evangeline said as blood spilled down her neck.

“Like how to take your energy. Did you know we can control energy?” Evangeline crawled toward the door as I saw the Browns surround her. They seemed to be sucking something out of her body as they touched her. She screamed in agony as they pulled her energy from her body. It was awful and I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t.

Agnes knelt down and put her hand on
mine.

“Will you be okay?” she asked briefly.

I nodded. I was fine now. A little confused by what was going on, but I was okay.

I gained my composure as Ephraim ran for Lynley. He lifted her from the bed and cradled her in his arms like a child. Her head nuzzled up against him she looked like a sleeping baby. I walked over to them and smiled at Ephraim. He looked to me and then back to Lyn. Then the realization set in. She wasn’t breathing.

Ephraim took her from the room right away and laid her in the hallway. He started CPR and I dialed 911. I didn’t care about how to explain the situation with Evangeline. She was
still lying on the floor surrounded by the ghosts. They were done doing whatever they did in the first place and they now kept guard. Agnes watched from the bed as we tried to revive Lynley. I told the dispatcher that Lynley had overdosed on her pain medication. I hated to have to be calling them again about something Evangeline did to her. Ephraim still did his steps, breathing into her mouth and pounding on her chest. He put his head on her heart and looked up at me with the look that told me it wasn’t working. He didn’t give up though. He kept going. I could hear the sirens in the distance. They were on their way here.

“Brylee
, you have to lock the door. It will seal it and end the curse for Ephraim,” Agnes advised. “Once you do that his curse will end.”

“And the Browns?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, for them you need blood from both of us. I can’t give you that.” She looked so sad sitting on the bed by herself.

I knew that the blood from a Barclay sister would end the curse; it was the whole reason I wanted to find both sisters in the first place. And here all along she lived next door. I could have ended the curse for both of them a long time ago and none of this would have happened.

I pulled the bottle of pills Lynley took out of the room, fixed the bed, and closed the door. As I slipped the key in the lock, Evangeline grabbed my leg. “No. Don’t do it, please. My power is slipping. If you lock the door I won’t be able to save Lynley.” I hesitated. “I can heal her if you let me get my power back. Don’t lock the door.” She was lying to me and I wouldn’t fall for it. If she ever intended on saving Lyn she would have done it a long time ago.

“I don’t know how the hell your power is in that room
, but I am locking this damn door. If you want this key back you’ll have to kill me for it,” I told her as I pulled my leg free. The door locked with a click and Evangeline was gone. I looked around to find she had just dissipated.

“She’s gone
,” Agnes said. “She will not come back for a while, but she will come back.”

“Why? What is in that room that she needs?” I couldn’t imagine what she could want in there.

“When your friends sucked her power out, it left her and stayed in the room. If she were to go into the room it would enter her again by only mere spells, and she would be back to normal. You must never let her in there again. The blood on that key seals the door so that only you can open it. Your blood is mixed with hers. See,” she said pointing to my bloody hand dripping onto the lock. I had cut my hand as I gripped the key to shove it into her neck. So my blood was now what sealed the door from Evangeline coming inside without me. Her power floated around that room and was gone from her. She would need both of our blood to ever get in there again.

“Can she ever get power again?”

“Not like she was before. That would take centuries and a lot of sacrifices. I don’t doubt that she will try to get it back though on her own. She will be wreaking havoc soon.” Agnes leaned against the window as she watched the ambulance pull into the driveway.

The thought of Evangeline killing more innocent people made me sick.

“Lynley will be okay, right? And Evangeline is gone now?” I asked Agnes.

She looked to me and her eyes looked hopeless. “Evangeline is gone
, long gone. However, as I said she will be back. But as for Lynley, she is gone forever.”

I looked at Lyn’s body on the ground
, lifeless and empty. Ephraim pounded on her chest and cried, “Wake up! Please, sister, please. Don’t leave me here alone.” I knelt down and put my trembling hand on his shoulder and the other on Lyn’s body. The tears would never stop for this loss. I would never forgive Evangeline for what she did. I would never get over this.

Just then it dawned on me. She might end up in this house with the Browns. They all stood in one corner with Kayla watching as the EMT’s took over. I fell to the ground on my butt as they worked on her. They pulled a stretcher up the stairs and put her on it.

I didn’t want her trapped here like the rest of the cursed. I realized that I locked the door to end the curse. Ephraim was going to be fine, but would Lynley be able to move on? Did I unlock it in time?

Ephraim followed them out the door and pulled me along with him. I was in a daze. Exhaustion and grief overwhelmed me. We watched them drive away with Lynley in the back of the ambulance. Ephraim put his arm around me and led me to his truck as the full moon hung over head.

We drove behind the ambulance to the hospital silently. I had done this before. The first time Lynley ended up okay. She healed. She came home.

This time we left the hospital and Lynley did not. This time Lynley didn’t heal. She was gone.

My parents flew home the next day. I was not in trouble for ditching them and running home, or for using the credit card for the flight and taxi fare. But my parents did tell me that I should have told them to drive me to the airport and not run off. If they knew what really happened they would flip out. Not that they weren’t flipping out already. They couldn’t believe that Lynley would take her own life, and in our house no less. They also couldn’t handle the fact that Carole was gone and not to be heard or seen from again. With her gone Ephraim lived in the house by himself. His family planned the funeral for Ephraim because he couldn’t afford to do it himself.

The day of the funeral I was a complete mess. My mom found me in my bed when it was time to go. I wasn’t even dressed yet. My black dress hung on my closet door. Kayla sat with me just to keep me company. She never said a word
, and I loved that about her.

“Brylee
, I know how hard this is for you, it’s just as hard for us. No one ever likes going to these things, but you have to go for Ephraim,” my mom said. She was right. I had to go for him, not for anyone else there except him. I let my mom tug the covers off of me. She pulled me up into a sitting position and brushed the tangles out of my head. She inspected my black T-shirt and jeans. She shrugged and pulled me to my feet. She knew it didn’t matter what I wore to this. The point was to be there for Ephraim not to impress anyone. I didn’t care if anyone talked about me. Let them. Who were they to judge me anyway?

I didn’t even realize we were in the car until we reached the funeral home. I stepped out and the sun hurt my eyes. I put on my shades and lowered my head. My hair was stringy no matter how much my mom brushed it. I hadn’t washed it in days. I didn’t care to. If Lyn couldn’t wash her hair
, why should I?

The funeral home was full of people. We got into a long line that eventually led to Lynley in a casket.

“No. I can’t do this,” I said to my parents. My mom looked to my dad and then back to me.

She understood. “Okay
, honey. Let’s just go find Ephraim.” I walked with her and my dad stayed in the line. Ephraim stood at the end of the line talking with family and friends as they all said how sorry they were. He looked at me and we both ran toward each other. He knocked over a few chairs on the way to me. He grabbed me into his arms and held me tighter than ever before. I let it all go and cried into his chest. I could feel him let go as well. We needed each other to get through this. Without each other we would not be able to cope with this loss.  I would not let him go and he wouldn’t let go of me.